Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1887-08-03
A DESERT RAILROAD,
FROM THE CASPIAN SEA TO THE
OxUS RIVER.

Over Six Thousand Miles of Track
Through the Shifting Sauds-How q
Difficult Problem Was soiyed-The
Water Supply.
Several interesting problems in railroad
building have been solved by the completion
Of the transcaspian road from the Caspian
sea to Anu Daria or Oxus river. This road
is unique in the fact that it is the only railroad
In the world which runs through the moving
sands of the desert Here and there along
the $50 miles of completed track the road
passes through regions covered by sand so
fine that the slightest wind moves it.
About 200 miles of the road run through these
sands Some eminent engineers asserted that
a railroad could not be maintained ami. these
wastes Gen. Tchernaieff said it would be
necessary TO build side walls all the way, and
he condemned the entire scheme, urging
against it all the objections that had pre-
viously been raised in France against the pro-
posed transsaharan railroad.
The difficulties were certainly great, but il
seems likely that Gen. Annenkoff will achieve
a complete triumph over the croalers who
asserted that all his railroad cuttings would
become choked with sand, and that his en-
bankments would be blown away. He has
employed different expedents on different
parts of the road to solve the problem of
drifting sand. On some long stretches of
desert road he has covered his entertainments
with layer of clay or saline earth. and
those that were built in this way year and
half ago have as yet suffered no deteriora-
ton.
DESERT SHRUBS AND PLANTS
In other places he has strengthened his EN-.
bankments by placing in them at intervals
layers of the branches of desert shrub
which he found in abundance. The embank-
ments of this sort between Merry and the
Oxus have stood unimpaired up to the present
time. He is also extensively cultivating
along the track desert shrubs and plants.
whose roots retain the sand This spring
large amount of grass seed Is to be sown and
many thousands of shrubs are to be planted.
The que jtiou of providing water in these
desert regions was no less difficult than that
of protecting and preserving the road bed.
That question has been triumphantly solved.
Water for the locomotives and stations along
the first 200 miles of the road is brought in
pipes from the mountains that run parallel
with the road for long distance After the
track turns northeast away from the noun
tains to go to Merry, the waters of the Tejend
and Murghab rivers are led in conduits or
canals to the various stations, and between
Merv and the Oxus very careful, researches
have led to the discovery of subterranean
waters, and wells affording a sufficient supply
have been opened.
Another important question involved in
this unique experiment Of desert railroading
was how to heat the sixty stations that have
been opened between the Caspian and tho
Oxus, in region where the cold is often ex-
IRENE and where there is a total lack Of fuel
Petroleum has been the means of solving this
problem. 1t not only furnishes the motive
power for the transcaspian railroad, but in
all the stations and in the little towns that
have sprung up along the route the buildings
are warmed and food is cooked by means Of
petroleum stoves of Russian invention
York Sun.